BCPC seminar: Climate change - the challenges and the opportunities for farmers, food production and the environment

30 Jul 2020

UPDATED: NOW ONLINE

This was initially advertised as a seminar in London, due to COVID-19,  it's now been moved to an online seminar, amended details are below.

Online Technical Seminar
10.30am-2.00pm, Tuesday, 22 September, 2020

Places are available for the fourth annual joint BCPC and The Farmers Club technical seminar, running on Tuesday 22 September 2020 online via Zoom.

The event sets out to put climate change in perspective for UK farmers and the environment they protect. The specialist panel of speakers will explain some of the challenges and, more importantly, detail the opportunities for UK agriculture so that it can make the most of our world’s long-term weather forecast.

“Climate change is set to remodel UK agriculture and the countryside. Most growers have experienced the implications first hand – particularly the financial cost and worries that can bring – after one of our wettest autumns and winters, followed by a spring and early summer drought,” says BCPC MD Julian Westaway.

“It has proved to be a destructive combination limiting field operations, impeding germination and crop establishment throughout the season and long-term damage to soil structure. And that impact does not only affect farmers, but also consumers and the UK’s fragile economy. Evidence of the long-standing change comes from the recent Met Office statistics which reveal the past decade holds eight high-temperature records, compared with only one low-temperature record.”

The proceedings will also be recorded and available online at a later date. To join the seminar via ZOOM you will need the passcode: 190560

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PROGRAMME

10.30

   Chairman's introduction   Stephen Howe, BCPC
10.45   Keynote speech   Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DEFRA, Rebecca Pow MP
11.10   Reaching net zero agricultural emissions by 2040 – 10 years ahead of the UK target   Dr Ceris Jones, NFU Climate Change Adviser
11.40   Climate change: the impact for UK crops and cropping patterns:   Prof Steven Penfield, Group leader, Genes in the Environment, John Innes Centre
12.15   Short break    
12.30   Reducing fertiliser’s carbon footprint to benefit crops and the environment   Mark Tucker, Business Development Manager and Head of Agronomy, Yara UK
13.00   Reaping the rewards of climate change for the UK fruit sector   Ross Newham, Operations Director, NIAB EMR
13.30   Discussion    
14.00   Event closes